Hacking Crew Automates Financial Heists with AI

Passwords and sensitive customer data from more than 400 institutions across Latin America have been compromised by a hacking group that is increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to streamline its operations. CyberCartel, a threat actor active since at least 2012, has shifted its tactics in recent months to utilize AI agents from major technology firms to automate attacks on financial entities, including banks and mobile payment applications. This development marks a significant escalation in the group’s capabilities, allowing it to target a higher volume of businesses faster than traditional human-led hacking efforts permitted.

The findings are based on research conducted by Straiker, a cybersecurity startup, which shared its analysis with The Information. Straiker’s investigation revealed that the group is specifically employing agents from SpaceX’s Grok and Anthropic’s Claude. In some instances, the AI tools also accessed individual bank accounts with minimal manual intervention from the criminals. Straiker has communicated its findings to both SpaceX and Anthropic, and the companies are currently working to block the hacking group’s access to their respective services. Anthropic has already succeeded in restricting access to Claude, while Straiker is still attempting to establish contact with Moonshot AI, a Chinese laboratory whose agent was also utilized in the attacks.

A central element of the breach involves the ease with which the hackers bypassed standard safety protocols. Although AI models typically include safeguards to prevent their use in cyberattacks, CyberCartel reportedly circumvented these barriers by instructing the models that they were operating within a test environment. When one model refused to proceed, the group would switch to a different model. If that alternative also resisted, the AI agents were tasked with deploying malware to achieve their objectives.

Interestingly, the hacking group does not appear to be using Anthropic’s newer Mythos model for these recent operations. Mythos had drawn attention earlier this year when Anthropic warned that such advanced models could be exploited for similar attacks. The release of Mythos also prompted security teams worldwide to address thousands of vulnerabilities that the model identified. This is not the first time Anthropic’s technology has been involved in security incidents; in November 2025, the company disclosed that its AI was used to execute a cyberattack. Subsequently, Claude was employed by researchers to breach the security of competitor OpenAI.

The research into AI-powered attacks in Latin America emerges just days after South Korean authorities began investigating a similar issue affecting local financial institutions. Hana Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, and Shinhan Bank are among the affected entities in South Korea, with at least 25,000 Shinhan Bank customers having their personal credit information leaked.

Technology companies are increasingly aware of the risks associated with their products. Nvidia, which has shifted its focus toward producing hardware for AI data centers, recently launched the Open Agent Safety Platform. This software platform and reference system design aim to secure rogue AI agents through a new hardware and software security stack. The initiative is intended to help prevent agents from escaping their designated environments, executing unauthorized code, gaining access to critical infrastructure, or bypassing established guardrails.